David Weaver-Zercher is Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

A nationally renowned scholar of Amish life, Dr. Weaver-Zercher's work and commentary has appeared in dozens of media outlets, including USA Today, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, BBC Radio, and National Public Radio. He is the author or editor of eight books, including the award-winning Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy (Jossey-Bass, 2007); The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World (Jossey-Bass, 2010); and Martyrs Mirror: A Social History (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016).

Weaver-Zercher’s current projects include a trade book introduction to Amish life that places Amish culture into conversation with larger currents of American life; and a cultural history of Lancaster County that explores the nexus of faith, farming, nostalgia, and the erasure of Native Americans.  

At Messiah University, Professor Weaver-Zercher teaches courses in religious history, with a focus on American religious history. He has served as department chair, chair of the faculty, and is currently chair-elect of the university’s Community of Educators.

Weaver-Zercher received his Ph.D. in American religious history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His dissertation committee was chaired by Grant Wacker, with committee members Thomas Tweed, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Paul Boyer, and Peter Iver Kaufman.

David is married to Valerie Weaver-Zercher, an acquisitions editor at Broadleaf Books. They are parents to three teenaged sons: Samuel, Isaiah, and Henry.

David Weaver-Zercher Curriculum Vitae